Library of Congress

Anglo-American Ballads Library of Congress

In 1942 the Archive of Folk Song in the Library of Congress issued its first albums of recorded folk music, thereby making some of its rich collection of field recordings available to the public. The recordings were issued under the editorship of Alan Lomax, then head of the Archive. (The editing of the sixth album was entrusted to William N. Fenton.) Each album they really were "albums" in those days--consisted of five 78-rpm records pressed in black shellac (the famous clear red vinyl was to come later). The albums patriotically mixed ten-inch and twelve-inch records-shellac was being rationed in 1942.